Genres

Visitors Review

Sebastian Johansson 2012-05-24 08:21:36

Good movie

The Green Mile takes place in Texas, USA at a prison of capitalpunishment. Paul Edgecomb is one of the guys who works at the prison.One day a big man named John Coffey come to the prison. He has beenconvicted for the murder of two young girls in a nearby village. Buthis personality is far from a cold-blooded killer. Edgecomb graduallybegins to warm to Coffey and begins research as to where he came fromand considers the fact that maybe he didn't commit this terrible crimeat all, especially when he begins to see the miracles which emanatefrom Coffey's vicinity. Paul Edgecomb is the first main character of the film. He's called bossby his partners and he's a very self-controlled and sympathetic man. Hehas a serious urinary infection and hasn't had the courage to go andtalk with a doctor. Maybe he's afraid of hearing that it's incurable. John Coffey is the second main-character. Even though he is convictedfor murder he seems to be a very calm and peaceful person. He hasmagical powers and his actions are synonymous with Jesus. Percy is theevil man in this movie. Actually he's one of the prison-guards but he'san immature and smug stripling. It's like he doesn't care for anyoneand he does everything to satisfy himself. I think all movies are filled with several messages. So it's very hardto pick out a special message in a movie. In this movie I personallythink it's that murderers aren't always bad people. Ed Delacroix is oneexample. He seems like a good guy in the way he takes care of Mr.Jingles and also in the way he treats Boss and his friends. Michael Clark Duncan gives an impeccable performance as thegood-hearted prisoner John Coffey. Tom Hanks is a disappointment. Hegives a rigid performance and is outclassed by the other lead-actors ofthe movie. I think a 2-times Oscar winning actor could have delivered amuch greater performance. The movie is very boring in the beginning butafter a magical healing of Paul Edgecomb's urinary infection the moviecome to its turning-point. Overall the movie is good. It's a very gooddescription on how it's to be on death row and i recommend it foreveryone except those who requires realistic movies.

Shana 2012-05-24 07:48:58

Movie follows book extremely well

I was very excited to see this movie for more than one reason. First ofall, when I heard that it was directed by the same person who directedShawshank Redemption (which I LOVED), I immediately knew that it would beamazing. Also, anything written by Stephen King (as Shawshank Redemptionalso was) is bound to be good. I had also bought the book when it firstcame out in serial form. So the first thing I did when I went home forwinter break was to read the entire book. I was desperate to see themovie,but I was determined to read the book first.The novel was extremely moving; I cried through probably half of the lastbook, and the movie followed very closely to the novel. Never before haveIcared so much about a mouse. King creates a compassion in his audienceforDelacroix and Coffey that would not be expected. They are both convictedmurderers on death row, yet I found myself feeling sorry for them and notwanting them to die.Percy was easily unlikable, as was Wharton. At times I wanted to jumpintothe screen and punch Percy myself. On the other hand, I really liked thecharacter of Brutal. Although he seems to be tough, he's a very sweetguy.Each character transferred extremely well from novel to screen, whichsometimes can be difficult to accomplish. The written word allows forcharacter description and explanation much more easily thanfilm.As always, Tom Hanks gives an outstanding performance, and Michael ClarkeDuncan is amazing as John Coffey. He portrays the depth of his characterextremely well and proves that he can handle any type of role. From thewild and crazy Bear in Armageddon to the powerful and subdued Coffey inTheGreen Mile, Duncan has secured his place in Hollywood alongside othernotable actors for years to come.

ChiefWahoo 2012-05-15 00:32:18

Tear jerker

That's right, this movie is so bad that I cried. I cried because people,sitting right there close to me bought this predictible, racist, simple,TomHanks disaster. WOW, Tom Hanks can play a nice man in a long drama, wealready now Tom, please, try some variety here. The acting was marginal,the story was pointless and the moral of the story is.......??????I have no idea......is it Life is long? life is magical if you are ondeathrow? Tom Hanks likes mice? I don't now and I don't care. Go seeAmericanBeauty again and save yourself 3 long dreadful hours!

EmrldGuy 2012-05-14 03:58:43

Superb Film

I saw this movie while in Florida on vacation with my girlfriend. Wereallyhadn't heard anything at the time about, and had no idea what to expect.Well, it's my favorite movie of the year probably. The movie is anemotional roller coaster with superb acting and decent cinematography in anot so cooperative environment (prison). Hanks, Duncan, & Sinise were allgreat. I am not a King reader, so I can not compare book to film as maydo.Why even compare? I think this movie does all a movie is supposed to do.It moves you! Makes you think! Overall, I loved it!

2012-05-14 09:41:39

A new Classic

This review is from: The Green Mile (DVD) Want to see a movie classic in the making? Watch this movie. It's simply outstanding. Very entertaining and excellent acting. Spellbinding story line. Yes, it's a long movie, but like Titanic, you don't mind the time because the story and acting is so good.

Jay Harris 2012-05-14 03:41:47

3 hours , 8 minutes & 12 seconds of boredom

I sat for 3hrs,8min & 12sec, watching this very well acted & effectivelymade bore. The story makes no sense to me whatsoever, I did not for onesecond believe any of the story line Stephan King wrote the original story, The director Frank Darabont wrotethe screenplay, The same director did The Shawshank Redemption, ,which was supremeentertainment, You had people you could care for in that one. In this film,none of the major performers are any one who you would want to know.The Guards are all except one too nice & sweet, The Inmates are eitherloonies, or half wits. The main convict a big 6ft 8 in giant is a sweetdumb...../.Tom Hanks is the head guard, & as usual he does a good job,so do theothers.I can only give this *** mainly for the acting &productionjay harris

D'MORPH 2012-05-13 00:09:34

JOHN COFFEY IS MASSIVELY AWESOME!

This was an Awesome film. The sort of film where you connect with thecharacters, even Dell, one of the prisoners on death row. John Coffey was areally wonderful character. His mannerisms was quite innocent despite hismassive, intimidating size and fearsome appearance, and he will be acharacter you'll really feel sympathy for. Tom Hanks, as always, was totallyawesome! The prison guards' attitude toward the prisoners on death row (save one!!)was also unusual, they actually had respect for them and treated them asbest as they could, knowing full well these men were going to be executed inthe near future. (I went in theater expecting these prisoners to be treatedlike animals, actually)The story line was very detailed, the sort of plot you will have toconcentrate on, because this movie is over 3 hours long! The ending was verysad, but I shall not go into detail on that (spoiler!)Overall, this was a sad movie, but not depressing, and to date the bestStephen King movie adaptation I have ever seen! Generally I avoid any movieattempts on Stephen King's books since they are done badly and are rarelytrue to the book (Example: The Tommy Knockers). But this has to be the mostsuccessful of all his book/movies.CONCLUSION? This is a definite must-see. But be warned: there are extremelygraphic execution scenes in this, so if you can stomach that, then you willenjoy this movie.

revere-7 2012-05-12 14:26:49

A case study in changing perceptions

The Green MileI often tell people when evaluating a film one ought to it in terms ofits time. But, in the case of The Green Mile, it's helpful to be ableto view this with the benefit of hindsight. Rarely has a film been theobject of such changing perceptions as The Green Mile.A decade after the film's release, it's one of the most loved films ofthe 1990s, and is currently ranked in the Internet Movie Database's top20 fantasy films of all time, beating out such notables as The Wizardof Oz, Toy Story and King Kong.But it wasn't always so for The Green Mile. At the time of it's releaseit got mixed reviews by critics – according to Rotten Tomatoes dot com,only about 70% of the top critics gave it a good review.To understand why this is, we have to transport ourselves back to the90s. The last film to make it to the big screen by both the writer,Stephen King, and the director, Frank Darabont, was a film called TheShawshank Redemption, widely considered to be one of the greatestcinematic achievements in history (just as a point of reference, theInternet Movie Database lists Shawshank as #1 on the list of 250 topmovies of all time). Whether or not you agree with that, justunderstand that Shawshank connected with audiences and critics both ina very powerful way.In addition, The Green Mile was also set during the first half of the20th Century, and also in a prison – comparisons to Shawshank wereinevitable, and given King's hiatus (imposed by a horrible accident),and the fact that The Green Mile was Darabont's follow up to Shawhank,his directing debut, anticipation was at an all time high.The Shawshank Redemption cast such a long shadow over The Green Mile,that it's nearly impossible to find any Green Mile review from the timethat does not mention it. When compared to such a monumentalachievement, is it any wonder that The Green Mile was found lacking?But, take Shawshank out of the equation, and suddenly the picturebecomes very, very different. Judged on it's own merits, The Green Mileis an outstanding motion picture. I'm not going to waste timesummarizing the plot, or praising the acting, I'm just going to saythat everything about this film is well done, and even though it's 188minutes long, it's worth every minute. And just like the previousdramas, Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption it ends with one ofthose brilliant Stephen King lines that both summarizes the journey andhammers home the theme brilliantly.Outstanding.

adamharwood 2012-05-06 01:50:19

An exceptional rendition.

The Green Mile is probably THE BEST movie that I have ever seen in myLIFETIME. This movie had it all. Fear, dread, suspense, all mingled inwithhumor and joy. For a well rounded film, this takes the cake as being mytopfilm of the year. I wouldn't be surprised if Hanks takes a Best Actorawardand Duncan a Leading Actor award! This movie was a GREAT rendition of thebook as well. The only thing that it skimped on was deleting onecharacter,although I can see that it would have changed the experience totally; thecharacter being at the end, and causing pain in the book. My rating: asolid'10'! Way to go team!

OxHare 2012-05-05 14:36:26

Waiting to die

Three hours for a prison movie from the team that brought us the ShawshankRedemption. Fair enough. Except it isn't a prison movie. It's a twilightzone mutation. What could have been a half decent film in a two hour spinwas stretched beyond any worthwhile purpose into a bore of a tale that hadme wishing I was next to be executed. If Darabont and King thought 188minutes gave this film gravitas they were sorely mistaken. The onlyhighlight is Michael Clarke Duncan who plays John Coffey. His performanceasthe gentle giant was moving.

jvesser 2012-05-03 08:29:11

great- but not as great as shawshank....

Wonderful story- What can I say- Stephen King does it again- Only he wouldthink up a mouse like "Mr Jingles" And his characters were true StephenKingstyle... Right down to the nastiest guy in the pic. I do think TheShawshankRedemption was better. I wish Shawshank would have had the reception thatthis movie did- Forrest Gump just wouldn't have won.

skippymi 2012-05-02 19:45:01

WOW!!!

Again, I am amazed with wonder at Frank Darabont's writing and directingadaptation of a Stephen King story. I felt that "The Shawshank Redemption"was robbed of the Best Picture Oscar by the wonderful "Forrest Gump". ILOVED "Forrest Gump", but do not feel it deserved the Oscar like"Shawshank". It evoked the same feelings and emotions in me as "The GreenMile" did when I saw it over the Christmas weekend. I am hopeful that theOscar voters will again favor "The Green Mile" for as many Oscars as theycan give to any one film. I am even more hopeful that it will win BestPicture, as it deservedly should. "The Green Mile" will stand as one of thegreatest movies of the century. Some people may not see that now, but waitfor another 25 years and you may agree with me. I was moved to tearsseveraltimes throughout this beautifully acted and directed movie. The casting wasSUPERB. The acting was FLAWLESS. The photography was STUNNING. I could findno flaw with the picture in any way, shape or form. I encourage you to goand see "The Green Mile". You will not be disappointed.

davedonuts 2012-04-30 05:48:45

New age bible story ?

Just seen "The Green Mile" and was completely blown away...not just by theawesome emotional impact of the movie, but by the powerful spiritualcontenttoo...It wasn't till I discussed it with a friend that I realised that on onelevel the plot was a modern-day bible story. You know the scene: Socialoutcast wanders around performing miracles, wrongly condemned to beexecutedin the most barbaric way imaginable, and chooses to die voluntarily ratherthan use his supernatural powers to save himself. Even the initials are thesame - John Coffey..Jesus Christ...Such a powerful spiritual story would have been weakened if it had beendelivered in a more flagrant or sickly sentimental way; but "The GreenMile"was scripted & acted so superbly that it made this cynical old buddhist cryinto his popcorn !Food for thought !!9/10

Cliff Sloane 2012-04-29 11:54:43

Emotional pornography

I use that expression cautiously and deliberately. This film hides itsmassive illogic and implausibility behind emotional manipulativeness andcheap tear-jerker tricks. Fans of the film who may be reading this willnaturally object as though I am invalidating their tears. But pleaseconsider that your tears were coaxed out by a crude setup.Some complaints:1. Where on earth would one find such compassionate prison guards? To quoteMahathir Muhammad, "Either one gets callouses on one's heart or you bleed todeath."2. In the South of 1935, not even the white liberals would treat a black manwith such dignity, let alone prison guards.3. How would a patrician white woman thank an illiterate and dirty black manfor saving her life? With a hug?4. Once John Coffey sees Wild Bill, why would his only words be,"He's a badman!"? Why did he say nothing?5. After visiting Coffey's lawyer, why did Paul say nothing to any legalauthority?6. The execution of Delacroix was annoyingly unrealistic. A botchedexecution (and there have been many) would never be anywhere nearly asgruesome.7. Finally, and this is the point at which I hated the movie, there wereMANY opportunities for the guards to get Coffey's case re-opened, even if hedidn't cooperate. But that would have turned it into a courtroom drama, nota religious-like story of redemption, suffering and eternalpunishment.

2012-04-26 21:57:35

Shawshank it ain't

The Green Mile should not even be mentioned in the same breath as the superior Shawshank Redemption, except perhaps when the director's credits are mentioned. The Shawshank Redemption was a masterful work of film, with terrific performances, wonderful direction, and a beautiful story to tell. The Green Mile is long, boring, self-important, and basically tells a PBS After-School Special story of accepting people who are different. There are fine performances in this film, just not from the ones critically lauded. Look to a crazy man with his mouse, a demented police guard, and a toothless murderer to provide some amazingly deep performances in this film.

mmunier 2012-04-26 11:15:49

Hell and Heaven meet on Death Row

I'm pretty sure you did not wait for this commentary to find out aboutthis masterpiece. And I'm not so sure you'll ever get to this if you'relike me. That is after a few pages I usually don't have that much timeI want to consecrate to more reading even if I'd like to. This beingsaid, and what follow not said as well as I'd like to put it afterreading other's brilliant and well deserved commentaries. All the sameI'd like to add:"Please do yourself a favor and give it a go, you won'tregret it" From the mousse to the giant they're all so good. They'reall exceptional. The length of the movie may be much for some, It wasfine for me. It certainly isn't a quick snack, it's a main meal! Justone thing, I had some "plumbing" problems and I can assure you I wasnot fit for the fire brigade, but again I was not Tom Hank, Still Iwonder how he managed...the distance. MB

dtaz 2012-04-25 20:32:34

Another moving film from Darabont and King

The Green Mile caught me by surprise. Being that The Shawshank Redemptionis one of my all-time favorite films, I went into this film expecting anattempt to capitalize on "Shawshank". Man, was I wrong. Aside from theprison settings, these two films could never be confused with one another. While Shawshank is about the triumph of the human spirit, The Green Mile ismore about who we are at our core. Are we good or evil? Can we change whowe are? Why are bad things allowed to happen? There are some imbeddedreferences to Christ, even symbolized in John Coffey, where we see thesacrifice of His dying for our sins. The cynics out there may choose tosmirk at these actions, but I think that they would be making a knee-jerkmistake. This film makes no judgements about us as a society or any suchnonsense, but rather tries to make us look at ourselves, individually, andhow we relate to the rest of the world.Hanks does his best work in a few years. Michael Duncan and David Morse, Ithink, are the most compelling, however. I've heard criticism that the filmis "too long," I don't really know how to repond to that argument otherthan to ask the person if they came to that conclusion before having seenthe film. If a film grabs and interests you, then holds that attention,then there is no way one should be able to make that claim about The GreenMile. It is the length it should be and needed to be. I enjoyed itimmensely and will put in in my top ten for the year.One last note to the cynics among us: cynicism does not automatically makeone smart or thoughtful. In fact, it can be a good thing. I only say thatto remind you that just because a film, book, song, or event is aboutsomething "good" does not automatically make it bad oruntrue.

movies2u 2012-04-25 07:12:20

A Brillaint Film.

"The Green Mile" is a brillaint film. The Stephen King adaption iscompletely brillaint. Tom Hanks, Bonnie Hunt, and Michael Clarke Duncan areterrific. This is one of the best films since "The Shawshank Redemption".This is a terrific film. ******SPOILER ALERT****** I also thought is was neat when Jon Coffey (MichaelClark Duncan) saved the mouse that the rude, inconsiderite, and mean Percystepped on. ******END OF SPOILER****** All in all, this is a terrific film and I give it a 10 out of 10!!!!!! :)

de_niro_2001 2012-04-19 18:00:49

Just what you'd expect from Stephen King- tremendous! (Warning- spoilers- do not on any account read this if you haven't seen the film).

I want everyone else who hasn't seen The Green Mile to get as much pleasureout of it as I did so if you haven't seen it I'd rather you didn't read myreview. Anyway, when it comes to suspense Stephen King always delivers thegoods and this film is no exception. Like The Godfather movies it is a veryshort three hour movie. It never drags and you never lose interest. It is aChristian allegory. John Coffey is a Christ figure and his initials indicatethis. His attorney doesn't know where he came from and says it seems he camedown from the sky. He has the power to perform miraculous acts of healing. Afurther likeness to Jesus is that it is a man called Paul who tells of him.Coffey is an intimidatingly big man but he has a child-like fear of thedark. He also has a child-like pleasure in the simple things in life likewhen he points out the constellation of Cassiopeia and says "there's Cassie,the old lady in the rocking chair". It is touching the scene where he sayshe had a dream about having the two wee lassies he was wrongly convicted ofmurdering sitting on his knees and they're all laughing with pleasure at themouse, Mr Jingles, and his incredible antics. When Wild Bill grabs his armthe truth about these two murders is transmitted to him although Wild Billdoesn't realise it. He in turn transmits it to Paul but it is not admissibleevidence in court. John Coffey will still be executed for a crime he didn'tcommit. Paul offers to carelessly leave a few doors unlocked so as he canmake good his escape but John Coffey, much like Jesus, agrees to go to hisexecution. The two villains of the piece are Wild Bill and Percy Wetmore.Wild Bill is a psychopathically evil man. Percy is childish rather thanchild-like. He acts like a spoiled child and enjoys bullying people who areweaker or more disadvantaged than himself. But, like a lot of people who areso inclined, he is basically a coward. He wets himself when Wild Bill, withhis penchant for putting his hands through the bars of his cell and grabbingpeople who are within easy reach, grabs him and he wets himself with fear(maybe his surname is a reference to this). He is prepared to go to anylength to kill Mr Jingles for the sheer pleasure of it. He is lookingforward to his transfer to the state mental hospital and it is divineretribution by John Coffey that results in him ending up there, not as awarder but as an inmate after being an instrument in Wild Bill'scome-uppance. Another instance of his sadistic nature is how he sabotagesDel's execution so as it is prolonged, agonising and horrifying. One ofDel's victim's relatives gleefully says, as he's being strapped into theelectric chair, "Satan's imps are a-awaitin' and the fires of hell arewell-stoked". But she, like everyone else, is horrified when she sees whathappens, in fact the people watching Del's sabotaged execution are soshocked and horrified by what they see a riot breaks out and they try toforce their way out the locked doors. After Del's agonising death, Percysays "I didn't know the sponge was supposed to be wet" and another warderpunches him in anger at the way Percy is insulting the intelligence of himand the other warders. Apart from Percy, the warders are surprisinglycompassionate men given the job they have to do. Maybe they believe thateven convicted murderers are due an easy time during their last remainingmonths on this Earth. Anyway, excellent.

gonzalus 2012-04-19 01:43:10

Is it really so long?

This is a great movie. It's clearly the only one that's fighting withAmerican Beauty for the Oscar.Sure is long. But come on, the best movies of all time were 3 hours long orso. The Godfather, The Deer Hunter, Apocalypsis Now, Gone with the Wind,Casablanca, 2001, A Clockwork Orange, .....When a movie has such character development as this one, it's easy to take3hours to complete. Who complains about this, surely will not like any other3 hour movie and will probably prefer hi-tech, pre-chewed movies. 10 out of10.